Why am I losing my intelligence? Please help.

If you are distressed by your assessment of the state of your own cognition, by all means make an appointment with a Neurologist. I am of the belief that the answers will console you.

I am 60, and I have cognitive slips all the time, but, you know, they say that if you forget your keys you’re not in trouble. It’s when you forget what a key is for that you may have a cognitive problem.

Well done for your trust and revelation of your difficulties.
It shows maturity on your part.

Oh , and don’t worry, it’s probably just a glitch.

You don’t sound like you are complaining! Have you been to a doctor for this? Maybe you had a minor stroke and it is affecting a certian part of your brain? Also the drugs you are taking require reducing the dose before quitting typically, and I am guessing you are taking Olanzapine for schizophrenia or bi-polar? I would recommend switching medication not stopping. I think memory loss is a possible side affect of the medications you are taking, less ability to focus, have you been on them a long time?

@pdworkin I had an appointment with a neurologist some months ago, but I didn’t really receive much help. I don’t remember, I think I didn’t get any recommendations except to see another doctor about my visual snow symptom.

@lloydbird Thank you.

Do you smoke weed or do any type of drugs? I know many people think they do not cause affects by the literature says they do so it is something to consider.

Also just to clarify the symptoms were occurring before you stopped the meds? Because stopping meds can cause odd symptoms as well?

How is your diet? That can cause cognition difficulties as well.
Taking fish oil supplements greatly helped me.

A doctors visit, another one, may be in order.

@doggywuv If it were me I would have taken that as a good sign. If the neurologist had seen anything that was disturbing, action would have been taken.

The visual snow just sounds like sensory “noise” which can generally be dealt with.

See specialist after specialist until someone is able to give you a proper diagnosis. You do not have to live like this.

Prozac is one of those drugs that you do NOT stop taking without a doctor’s approval. If you are self-medicating with weed or other hallucinagens, or narcotics; stop, as the effects of marijuana, etc. are not harmless, despite what some people may tell you.

I am a year shy of 50, and the weed I smoked and other drugs I took as a young man DID affect my cognitive thinking skills as I got older. When you get to my age, you are going to be sorry you experimented with illegal drugs; and yeah, I realize that I sound like some of the old people you already know, but hey, ever think they might know something that you don’t? We weren’t born old you know. =)

I was taking Xanax for years, and I stopped taking it, but I was smart enough to reduce my dose gradually, and not just stop taking it all at once. I finally went back on it when I found out I really did need it. You need to see a doctor about the drugs you stopped taking, while it is your body, and you can do with it as you wish, some drugs can cause great side effects if stopped abruptly.

Good luck, I hope you find out what is going on.

@evelyns_pet_zebra
the effects of marijuana, etc. are not harmless
and
the weed I smoked and other drugs I took as a young man DID affect my cognitive thinking skills

care to reconcile?

It could just be stress. Have you been sleeping enough? Is there some sort of change going on in your life? You’d be surprised how much your body and mind react to these things.

@RedPowerLady; and the contradiction is?

@Jayne My bad. Thanks for having me re-read that. I totally read it wrong somehow.
@evelyns_pet_zebra My bad. I totally read that wrong. Super Apologies. I promise it was an honest mistake.

@JLeslie I go to a cognitive therapist and a psychiatrist regularly, and I’ve been to a neurologist once. I don’t know if I’ve had a stroke.
Yes, I know about the need to gradually stop taking medication, but I was panicking and didn’t abide by that rule. I took Olanzapine for psychosis, and took both of these medications for about 5 or more months.

@RedPowerLady No, I don’t use any recreational drugs.
These symptoms occurred before I stopped taking my medications.
My diet isn’t very good unfortunately; not enough fruits/vegetables and not enough water.

@evelyns_pet_zebra Well I already stopped taking Prozac a while ago; now I shouldn’t start again and gradually stop, right?
I know that recreational drugs are bad for you; I don’t take any.
What worries me about any drugs is that I think that no one really knows about all of the effects of them, and I feel like I am being experimented on when taking them. So that’s one reason why I thought the medications could have been causing this symptom. Another reason, is that I read that in a study it was found that Olanzapine decreased brain weight and volume in Macaque monkeys after 17–27 months of taking it! Then I decided to stop taking it. I contacted my doctor about it and told her about the study, and she said that the same phenomenon may not occur in humans, and that if it does it could be a sign of improvement.
So I do see doctors about takings meds, and for therapy.

@doggywuv : This sounds like more than a glitch to me. Given the encephalitis and the sudden onset of your symptoms, you can do no harm by seeing a neurologist. We can be encouraging but certainly have no definitive answers for you.

I have been taking a low dosage of Zoloft for years and look how sane, cheerful, smart and amusing it has made me.

@tinyfaery No, I haven’t been sleeping much these days. The changes in my life right now are starting school in September and stopping taking medications.

Thank you everyone for replying (:

@doggywuv If you already stopped you should not start and stop again, it is already out of your system. If you have not been sleeping then that could explain many of your symptoms. Sounds like you need your meds reevaluated. I understand wanting to just stop when you think taking a certain pill is actually doing more harm then good, but probably ywiser to try a new medication in youru case then to stop abruptly. I know how frustrating it is to not feel well, and also be worried about what meds might be helping you or hurting you. Since you have stopped these meds are your psychotic symptoms coming back?

@JLeslie Since I stopped, psychotic symptoms didn’t come back, nor did depression symptoms.

@doggywuv Given your recent comments I would say lack of sleep and poor diet are the culprits. Start by getting enough water because dehydration can seriously reak havoc on your body. Poor diet can affect cognition as well as sleep deprivation. Take a look at your life and see how you can work these things in. In the meantime consider taking fish oil supplaments.

@RedPowerLady Those are definitely changes I should enact: more sleep, more water, better diet.